Employee Relationship and Cultural Intelligence

This article discusses the importance of employee relationship and cultural intelligence in JKL Industries. It covers the company's structure, policies, and potential problems. It also provides solutions to promote cultural diversity and reduce conflicts among employees. The article suggests training sessions, peer guidance, and social events to enhance communication and understanding among employees.

Running head: EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
Employee Relationship and Cultural Intelligence
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
Assessment task 2:
Answer 1:
An in-depth reading of the JKL industries would show that the poor diversity and
networking condition. The case study reveals that the main business of the company consists of
selling medium sized trucks. forklifts and ancillary parts. The company is shifting into overseas
operations and looking forward to close its rental to strengthen the former business. This new
business requirements of JKL would require the company to undergo a rapid change which has
made it important for management to gain employee support. The employees suffer from lack of
cooperation from the leaders and as a result did not trust them. The managers were not sensitive
towards the cultural sentiments of the subordinates. This resulted in hostility among the
managers and the subordinates and the latter used avoidance method to avoid conflict or
confrontation with the former (Cascio 2018). The networking within the company was very weak
due to this lack of understanding and trust. This resulted in weak communication and business
network with the external stakeholders which prevented the company of taking advantage of the
business opportunities arising in the market.
Answer 2:
JKL is an Australian trucking company based in Sydney selling small and medium sized
trucks and their spare parts. The mission of the company was to enhance the value of the
customers and investors by the performing highly in the trucking market. The vision of JKL is to
develop the potential of its human resources to ensure high organisation position in the market.
The value of the company are high performance, value maximisation of stakeholder groups like
invertors, employees and customers. The company also sought to bring about diversity
management and sustainability in its business operations (Rice 2015). JKL industries worked in

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
three business areas namely, sale of small and medium sized trucks, offering trucks on rent and
providing aftersales services to its customers like spare parts.
The company had a tall organisational structure under the leadership of the managing
director who supervised the operations manager and finance and administration manager. The
HR Manager and the senior business partner and the branch managers reported to the operations
manager. The finance and accounts manager oversaw the operations of the accounts manager
who in turn supervised the accountants. The branch managers oversaw the operations of the three
lines of business namely sales, services and rentals under the leadership of their respective
managers. The sales managers, the service managers and the rental managers had individual
reporting departments (Trax, Brunow and Suedekum 2015).
The financial requirements of JKL industries is $ 13 million. The policies of the trucking
company showed that it had well laid organisational policies like risk management policies and
diversity management policies. However, in contrary to following these policies, the managers
were not sensitive towards the sentiments of the employees. The internal policies of the company
showed lack of communication between mangers and their subordinates. The reason for these
lacks of network, communication and prevalence of conflicts among managers and employees
could be attributed to the tall structure of the organisational which prevented smooth flow of
information within the company (Barak 2016).
Answer 3 and 4 (Appendix 2):
Answer 1 of Appendix 2:

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
The given situation mentions that JKL Industries have both Christian and non-Christian
employees. The situation presents that the non-Christian are suffering from sense of lack of
belongingness due to lack of accommodation for them on the eve of Christmas. The anti-
discrimination policies and equal opportunity policies of the company seek to enforce equal
opportunities for all employees. The policy open with the information that the company values
diversity among employees and look forward to create an organisational sans discrimination.
The second piece of policies which upholds diversity management in the company is that all the
employees can apply for training irrespective of their cultural backgrounds, age or any other
discriminating grounds (Kraidy 2017).
The policies JKL follows regarding anti-discrimination with the organisations follows the
Racial Discrimination Act 1975. The act enforces equal opportunities to all the people living in
Australia in the areas of profession, business and acquiring properties. The act overrules any
state law that promotes discrimination in any form.
Policies and processes prevailing in the organisations can contribute towards building of
cultural diversity, ethical relationship among employees and strong inter-employee relationships.
The anti-discrimination policies encourage managers to treat their subordinates equally and
promote cultural diversity within the organisation. For example, the organisations can make
facilities for non-Christian employees during Christmas. This would promote sense of
importance among the non-Christian employees as well and enhance their relatedness to the
organisations. This would create stronger bonds among the both the Christian and non-Christian
employees which would ultimately lead to high organisational performances (Cahn and Abigail
2014).

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
A change that be made within the policies, processes or communication to promote
cultural diversity within JKL Industries is celebration of non-Christian festivals among the
employees. This step would enable the non-Christian employees to relate to the organisation.
The teams like the apex managers and the middle levels managers should be approached
for approval regarding inclusion of non-Christian festivals within the organisation. The higher
level managers can be communicated about the suggestion by holding meetings and sending
them formal email (Goetsch and Davis 2014).
Answer 2 of Appendix 2:
The potential problem which can be anticipated from the senior managers is lack of
approval to celebrate non-Christian festivals in the organisation. The case study mentions clearly
that the senior managers lacked understanding about the cultural sentiments of the subordinates.
One can infer in the light of this fact that the senior managers are most likely to oppose
celebrating non-Christian festivals.
The resistance of the team of senior managers regarding celebration of non-Christian
festivals can be confronted by arranging a cultural training sessions for them. This strategy on
one hand would promote cultural awareness among the managers and equality of treatment of
employee irrespective of background within the organisation. The communication style to be
adopted would be formal. The formal style of communication proved successful when the
company adopted the decision to pull out of the truck rental market to concentrate on the truck
sales market (Hon, Bloom and Crant 2014).

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
Answer 3 of Appendix 2:
Building of strong communication network with external stakeholders like customers and
internal stakeholders like employees would enable positive personal and professional
relationship between them. For example, if a strong communication network is developed within
the organisation, it would develop higher levels of understanding between managers and their
subordinates. Moreover, this approach communication would enforce stronger relationship
among the departments which would translate into higher customer services by the company.
This high level of customer services would generate high revenue that would ultimately enable
the company to pay high returns on investments to investors. The company would be able to pay
higher employees, thus ensuring their professional development. Moreover, it would enforce
higher coordination and understanding among the employees, thus enforcing healthy personal
relationship among them (Zahariadis and Exadaktylos 2016). However, the suggested
networking channel should be formal like meetings and emails on official ids of employees
which would enforce transparency as well.
Managers join networks to deal with urgent situation like prevalence of lack of
communication and conflict among the employees and their reporting managers. The networks
are formal and the parties to the conflicts are trained to enhance their internal understanding.
Trainings, meetings and mentoring development stronger relationship between managers and
their subordinates in these situations. The networking built through training and mentoring pave
ways better reducing conflict and enhance stronger coordination among employees and their
managers, thus boosting overall organisational productivity (Karlsen 2015).
Answer 4 of Appendix 2:

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
Networking
activity
Person Schedule Description/Rationale of networking
activity
Accompanying
seniors on client
visits
Sam and Alex 1 month This would enable developing
understanding how to approach clients,
deal with them, know their needs, how
to adapt the company’s products to their
needs and ultimately convert them into
customers
Product training Sam 3 weeks Development of sound knowledge on
the products
Going on sales
calls under senior
supervision
Sam and Alex 1 month Development of their own skills in
customer relationship building and
acquisition.
Visiting existing
clients for service
and new business
generation
Alex 2 months Develop understanding of repeat
business, gaining more in depth
knowledge of client requirements,
gaining references from clients etc.

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
Assessment task 3:
Part 1:
The role play of the HR business partners would be improving the organisational culture
within JKL Industry. The case study mentions that the company is pulling out of the rental
market to strengthen its position in the truck sales market. The business opportunity necessitates
the company to acquire and retain talent to align them with the business strategies. The
employees on the contrary suffer from insecurity which results in high employee turnover. The
role of the HR manager in this case would be training the employees according to the new
business requirements instead of making them feel insecure and ultimately leading to their
resignation (Zahariadis and Exadaktylos 2016).
Part 2:
The strategic and operational plans of JKL Industries show that the goals of the company
is to benefit its stakeholders like customers and investors. The objective of JKL Industries is to
developing and enhance the potential of its employees to enhance the satisfaction of customers
and ROI of investors.
The main stakeholders of the company can be divided into two groups, external and
internal stakeholders. The internal stakeholders consists of employees, middle level managers
and apex management. The case study mentions the external stakeholders of the JKL Industries
are the investors, customers, suppliers and the government. The customers of JKL can be divided
into three groups based on its three business lines. The customers of the sales division are the
companies using medium and small sized trucks like the logistics companies. The rental
customers are once again commercial organisations which hire trucks to serve their business
needs (Hon, Bloom and Crant 2014). The servicing customers of JKL are the business

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
organisations which buy spare parts and obtain servicing from them. This group also includes
business organisations using trucks of other companies as well (Goetsch and Davis 2014).
Part 3:
The apex management and the HR manager of the JKL Industry should plan a peer
guidance session for the employees to deal with their mounting insecurity. The following is the
plan for role play for peer management guidance session:
Activity 1: The managers and the subordinates should introduce themselves to each other.
Activity 2: They should introduce each other to their cultures, traditions and perceptions.
Activity 3: The HR department should hold training session about culture and other aspects. The
training sessions should include brief about the major cultures and religions in the world.
Part 4 (Appendix 2):
Action/
Activity
Time
frame
Person/s
responsible
Description of the
strategy/tactic/rationale
for action plan:
Resources, if
required
Managers
meeting with
employees of
their own
department
1 day Departmental
heads
The managers would get to
know about the attributes of
their team members like
their experiences,
knowledge, cultural
backgrounds and so on.
Training rooms
Managers meet
each other
2 days Apex
management
Development of
interdepartmental
Meeting rooms

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
coordination.
Inter-
departmental
employee
meetings
3 days Departmental
heads
Enhanced peer relationship Meeting rooms
Part 5:
Part 5a.
The HR manager should interact with each employee to know about the perceptions,
capabilities and cultural background. He must advocate mutual respect among employees
irrespective of designations and departments. He must plan social event between employees
which would allow the employees of different culture interact and develop better cultural
understanding among themselves. These steps would help in reducing manager and employee
conflicts and create a calmer environment among employees in the organisation. The managers
should be encouraged to develop a more receptive and cooperative attitude towards employees
(Kraidy 2017).
Part 5b.
The HR manager at JKL Industry should adjust his personal style of communication to
meet the emotional and technical needs of the employees. He should be cooperative and
understanding to the needs of the employees. As far the technical aspects of communication are
concerned, the HR manager at JKL should adjust his communication style to the needs of the
individual employees. For example, for employees who are not very tech-friendly, the HR

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
manager should opt for face-to-face meetings to deal with their insecurities (Zahariadis and
Exadaktylos 2016).
Part 5c.
The HR manager should ensure that the JKL follows the relevant legislations like Racial
Discrimination Act 1975 and Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (Commonwealth). The next
procedure which he can adopt to reduce and manage organisational conflict is that he should
train the employees and enhance their skills. This would enhance their competencies that would
enable them to perform highly, thus helping their managers to achieve high level department
performances. The third procedure which the HR managers should adopt to minimise employee
conflict is enhanced interaction and teamwork among employees (legislation.gov.au 2018).
Part 5d.
The HR manager should adopt the strategy of holding meetings with the managers and
the employees to recognise the root causes of the conflicts between them. Then they must
collaborate with each other to resolve or at least minimise the conflicts.
Part 5e.
The HR manager should collaborate with all the managers and their subordinates to
develop an action plan to resolve issues like lack of cultural intelligence among the different
teams as mentioned above. They should form a list of activities along with the time within they
have to be achieved along with the person responsible and the description of tasks as shown in
the appendix shown above (Hon, Bloom and Crant 2014).

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
Answer 6:
The role play of the HR manager at JKL should continue for a week. The place of the
role play would be the training or any external venue arranged to enforce more social interaction
between employees across departments (Zahariadis and Exadaktylos 2016).

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References:
Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage
Publications.
Cahn, D.D. and Abigail, R.A., 2014. Managing conflict through communication. Pearson.
Cascio, W., 2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson..
Hon, A.H., Bloom, M. and Crant, J.M., 2014. Overcoming resistance to change and enhancing
creative performance. Journal of Management, 40(3), pp.919-941.
Karlsen, R., 2015. Followers are opinion leaders: The role of people in the flow of political
communication on and beyond social networking sites. European Journal of
Communication, 30(3), pp.301-318.
Kraidy, M., 2017. Hybridity, or the cultural logic of globalization. Temple University Press.
Legislation.gov.au. 2018. Racial Discrimination Act 1975. [online] Available at:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2014C00014 [Accessed 3 Apr. 2018].
Rice, M.F., 2015. Diversity and public administration. ME Sharpe.
Trax, M., Brunow, S. and Suedekum, J., 2015. Cultural diversity and plant-level
productivity. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 53, pp.85-96.

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Zahariadis, N. and Exadaktylos, T., 2016. Policies that succeed and programs that fail:
Ambiguity, conflict, and crisis in Greek higher education. Policy Studies Journal, 44(1), pp.59-
82.